Banished from his homeland and from the woman he loves, Jacopo Ortis lives constantly with the insufferable feelings of disillusionment and betrayal. Gone are his youthful dreams of literary glory, and in their place only his embittered laughter at fortune, at men, and at the omnipotence of God. In the anguish of his state he feels himself compelled to make one final, titanic and symbolic gesture to the rulers of his age.<BR>Jacopo Ortis embodies the crisis of the revolutionary hopes of an entire generation and the death of an idea of freedom based on human trust and love. He is the ultimate romantic hero who wages war on convention in a desperate attempt to unshackle himself from the fetters forced upon him by fate, nature and society.<BR>Written as an epistolary monologue, Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis is a compelling and deeply profound portrayal of a troubled mind. Published here for the first time in the English language, it is presented with Foscolo's poem, Of Tombs.